Close to winning his match at second singles, the Westport High senior was felled by a left calf cramp and defaulted. The top-seeded Wildcats ultimately lost to Pope John Paul II 3-2 in their Division 3 South boys’ tennis semifinal on Wednesday at the Dianne B. Snyder Tennis Complex.

Machairas was leading Jon Logie 7-5, 5-4 and, with both calves starting to balk, had a match point at 40-30. He sliced a forehand wide and then collapsed to the court. With the help of Westport High trainer Kate-Lynn Reed, Machairas tried in vain to gain sufficient relief by stretching. With the calf muscle stubbornly uncooperative, he defaulted.

That gave Pope John Paul II a 2-1 lead, and the fifth-seeded Lions (19-3) clinched the match when Cooper Tomchik defeated Nick Rosa 7-6 (9), 0-6, 6-2 at first singles. Westport later won second doubles, the late-starting match at the four-court Snyder complex.

“It (calf) was getting really tight in the middle of the second set,” Machairas said. “I knew it was eventually going to cramp up if I kept playing. On the last point, where I could have won the match, I felt it really tighten up and I knew it was going to cramp up. And finally at the end of the point, it started cramping up and I went down.”

A somber Machairas was eventually helped to the court bench, where he remained for about a half hour. He was still limping after the match.

“This was probably the worst way to lose,” Machairas said. “And figuring that it was my last game I’ll ever play in high school, it was really sad, unfortunate.”

Following Tomchik’s clinching win, a handful of members of the PJP team walked to the bench to shake Machairas’ hand.

Machairas said he had calf cramp problems during a match with Bishop Stang in 2013, adding those cramps were not as severe and he was able to continue and win.

“We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for George,” Westport coach Tom Clark said. “Much of the success we’ve had all season, the past four seasons, have been because of George. He gives it everything he can. He goes for shots other people won’t even try for, and he usually returns them. He’s always going at maximum effort, so maybe that’s what happened. Maybe just that one step too many. He’s always given, maybe, too much effort.

“But yeah, he feels horrible. No one (else) on the team feels bad. We’re more concerned about him.”

“We played great,” Clark said. “I think good competition brings out the best in our team. And this was the best team we’ve played all season. They were very good players, so there’s no reason to hang our heads.

“They play in a harder league. They play better competition. So they’re used to playing at a high level. I think on another day, we would win.”

Pope John Paul will face Cohasset in the South final. Cohasset defeated Martha’s Vineyard 4-1.